Humanity
by BeautifulDusk
Summary: "Well I came upon a man at the top of a hill, called himself the savior of the human race. Said he come to save the world from destruction and pain, but I said how can you save the world from itself?" Based on my take of the recently released Part II trailer. Ellie is on a grim path searching for vengeance, but nothing everything is what it seems to be.
1. Through the Valley

**Humanity**

 _By BeautifulDusk_

* * *

The smell of gunpowder lingers heavily in the dusty air.

Her emerald eyes are blank as she surveys the broken bodies that lay scattered all over the abandoned house. Empty bullet shells litter the ground, testament to the bloodshed that had just taken place. A man in his early twenties groans feebly near the front door, clutching a gunshot wound in his abdomen as a pool of dark blood spreads underneath him. The noise alerts her, his small pain filled whimper condemning him to his hopeless fate. She walks purposly across the room to the dying man, switchblade in hand. She crouches down and ignores his desperate pleads for mercy as she slices his throat efficiently- a move she's done so many times it has become a natural reflex. She coldly wipes the blood off of her weapon on his torn jacket as he gurgles before going still for the last time. She moves cautiously through the house, footsteps light as she strains her hearing and deduces she is finally alone.

She knows it wont be for long though.

As she walks past a bedroom she notices a guitar tucked into the corner. A rare small smile tugs at the corner of her lips as she picks it up and sits on the edge of the bed. As she moves the guitar onto her lap, she attempts to blow the dust of twenty six years off before beginning to tune the instrument.

The adrenaline from the fight is still coursing through her veins, making it difficult to strum. She holds her bloodied and bruised trembling hand out in front of her, amazed that even after all of these years of fighting her hands _still_ shake after taking anothers life. She clenches her fist in an attempt to ignore the pangs of guilt to no avail. She flexes her stiff fingers before she experimentally strums the guitar. She makes one more last adjustment and takes a deep breath before she begins to play.

 _"I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.  
I fear no evil because I'm blind to it all.  
My mind and my gun they comfort me,  
Because I know I'll kill my enemies when they come,"_

The words and memories flow from her, reminding her of happier times that cause an ache in her tight chest. She's so caught up she doesn't notice the blood trail down her cheek like a forgotten tear.

" _Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life,  
And I will dwell on this earth forevermore.  
I walk beside the still waters and they restore my soul,_"

She can sense him approaching, but she isn't concerned. She doesn't need to lift her head up to confirm who it is.

" _But I can't walk on the path of the right because I'm wrong,"_

She tries not to react at his image as he leans against the door frame, fighting to control her emotions as she nears the end of the song that they wrote together so many moons ago.

 _"But I can't fight on the path of the right because I'm... Wrong."_

The air is heavy as she finishes. She doesn't look up, she's uncomfortably familiar with his presence appearing when her heart feels at its heaviest. Some days she even looks forward to it- a welcomed escape from her fucked up reality.

"What are you doin' kiddo?"

His voice sounds _exactly_ like she remembers and it kills her every time he speaks. The thick southern drawl, the slow even pace. It's the one voice that once brought her feelings of safety and secuirty. She knows truth, that he's not there with her and that she's alone, but every time she sees him like this her heart jumps into her throat and a part of her hopes that everything that happened with the Fireflies isn't her reality. That maybe, just _maybe_ , the Fireflies didn't kill him and this is all some sort of morbid dream. She stares down at the broken heap of a man that lays on the carpet in front of her, a clear reminder that this was her world now. This is her cause. Her purpose.

This is her revenge.

 _Their_ revenge.

"You really gonna go through with this?"

His words ring clear and true, as if knowing he's asking a rhetorical question and _of course_ she is. His words are filled with wary resignation that is so damn typical of _him._ She slowly moves the guitar and gently places it on the bed, mentally gathering herself as she turns to him. Her eyes are hardened from the relentless suffering she has endured. They echo the moment she witnessed the death of so many that she cherished. They are the very same eyes that watched Joel be viciously beheaded. The vision that flashes in her mind stirs the anger that holds the nineteen year old tightly in its grasp- she knows she cannot stop until she avenges them all.

But deep down, she's doing it for Joel.

"I'm gonna find and I'm gonna kill e _very last one of them._ "

"I know Ellie," his words linger softly in her head before diminishing completely. Joel melts into the shadows as she picks up the guitar and beings to play another bittersweet melody, bringing her the closest she'll ever feel to comfort.

And once again, she is all alone.

* * *

30 miles away a man stops and inspects a broken branch. He runs his thumb over the break, the sap eagerly sticking to his skin. It was the first sign of the girl he had seen in hours, he fears that with each passing day he is losing her trail.

But he won't stop until he finds her.


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary:** Ellie, consumed by anger, will stop at nothing until she destroys those who took everything away from her. The memories of her past haunt her every step, appearing in the form of her former protector. The reality of her world threatens to consume her when a chance meeting with a strange young child sets of a chain of events that Ellie never saw coming. Little does she realise she herself is the biggest threat of them all.

 **Warning:** Contains strong language, sexual themes, character death, violence.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own TLoU or 'Through the Valley.'

 **AN:** So my oneshot has become something more. Bewarned: big twists ahead in later chapters and tissues might be required. Also, 't _houghts will appear in italics.'_

* * *

 _"Humanity is a crazy contradiction. I accept us for who we are. We're not that great. Every time we take a step forward we go back to the same primitive behaviour. We're meant to be this way. It's not our fault, it's just who we are" **-** Colin Quinn_

* * *

 **Chapter One**

The deteriorating highway stretched endlessly into the distance. Asphalt crumbled underfoot as Ellie walked through the skeletons of rusting cars that littered the road like a maze, choked with bracken and stubborn weeds that grew through cracks in the broken concrete. Withered remains of humans who perished decades past were scattered sporadically, long since picked clean by opportunists. It painted a haunting picture of the chaos that was the Cordyceps outbreak, a picture that was all too familiar to the nineteen year old woman.

A lone vulture circled lazily overhead, following Ellie in hope of her perishing in the unforgiving heat. The Missouri sun brutally shone down on her relentlessly, distorting the air with waves of hot air that radiated from the ground. The humidity was stifling, causing uncomfortable drops of sweat to down run down her dirty body and made her clothes stick to her like glue.

Ellie squinted her eyes at the horizon, the ruins of St. Louis hazy in the distance. Ellie estimated she would be there by nightfall if she continued at her current pace. She stopped and shrugged off her backpack, pulling out her nearly empty canister. She twisted the lid off and drank the last three mouthfuls greedily, almost welcoming the unsavoury feeling of swallowing warm water. It did little to ease the throbbing headache she had had for the last 72 hours.

For the past couple of weeks Ellie had been travelling by night, the temperature being too brutal to move during the day. However, the trail of the group she had been following had started to grow cold so she had no choice but to push through during the day and risk heat exhaustion. She knew it could be potentially a fatal calculation. Missouri certainly didn't lack in rivers and lakes, but she needed to boil any water before drinking it. She couldn't risk contracting a disease when she was by herself- if she got sick she would lose her targets.

That was of course, completely depending on the validity of the information she obtained back in a small abandoned village outside of Omaha. Her interrogating skills weren't exactly efficient, but they had gotten the job done. The fight itself had been her closest call yet since she left Jackson, the scar on her forehead still visible where she had been nicked by a hunting knife. She had gained the upper hand by a craftily placed nail bombed, a trick taught to her long ago by a reluctant Joel. " _I dunno Ellie,_ " he'd said, filled with reservation as she had pleaded with him one night after they left the suburbs of Pittsburgh. They were huddled in an abandoned home, the boarded windows offering them enough protection that they were able to build a small fire in an empty drum that Joel had hauled from the garage. _"Please Joel? I'm not a fucktard. I won't accidentally set it off I swear!"_ He had given a wary sigh and finally relented. It was moments like those shared with Joel that took her mind off of everything they had been through. Tess, Henry, Sam... For a little while she could distract herself.

But there was no distracting herself from what had happened in Jackson the previous winter.

Ellie shook her head, attempting to dispel the unwanted thoughts that crept into her mind. Succumbing to the memories would be a painful distraction.

"They're gonna get away if you keep standin' there like that kid. C'mon."

Ellie said nothing when she heard the southern drawl from behind her. She slung her backpack over her shoulders and climbed over the bonnet of a car that blocked her path as Joel fell into place beside her, the metal groaning in protest under her weight but didn't shift when Joel added his own. Some days there was no avoiding him. As much as it mentally exhausted her- in a twisted way she enjoyed his company. At the back of her subconscious she knew that every time she responded to Joel it was dragging her deeper into the realm of being batshit Crazy with a capital C. Sometimes she would ignore him but more often than not she caved and gave in, figuring she was a lost cause already. Majority of the time they talked about irrelevant things. Joel would tell her stories about his youth with Tommy- stories that she knew she had already heard a long time ago that her memory was regurgitating back to her.

"STL huh? Well this takes me back. Me 'n Tommy did a road trip here once, went to a Cardinals game," Ellie must've looked confused because Joel chuckled, shaking his head with amusement at her preoutbreak naivety. "Baseball team. Busch stadium is pretty famous..." Ellie nodded as Joel continued to tell her about how Tommy had gotten into a fight at a bar after the game and how they had narrowly avoided being arrested. She remembered the story vaguely now, he had told it to her the first time back when they had passed a small local stadium outside of Boston. At the time Joel had treated her like a pubescent inconvenience and would barely say more than two sentences strung together. Sometimes though, something would trigger a memory and he would indulge her even if it was just for two minutes before resuming his stoic silence. Back then she had thought he was a massive dick but still found it interesting see him open up, even if it was just a tiny amount.

"I don't know what he was thinkin', but he thought he could take the guy on- he woulda been at least a solid foot taller than him..."

Ellie shot Joel a look out of the corner of her eye as they walked side by side. For someone who was a creation of her mind, he was a lot chattier than he had been alive. At first it had baffled her, but eventually she theorised that it the memories were trying to keep her occupied and distracted. She was musing this over when Joel shot an arm out in front of her and stopped suddenly in his tracks. "Shit!" Instantly she was on alert, dropping hastily to crouch behind the remains of a F150 with her 9mm in hand. She strained her hearing, the noise was so faint that she was sure she had imagined it (because really, could she trust her brain at all these days considering her dead companion was at her side ready to fire off his Revolver?) but when she heard it the second time she knew it wasn't a trick.

"Fucking Stalkers," Ellie hissed in frustration through gritted teeth. She pressed her back against the tipped over truck, making note of everything that could possibly provide cover to keep her out of sight. She hated Stalkers more than Clickers. At least with Clickers you didn't have to worry about being seen but Stalkers had the whole ' _we're going to run around like fucking spastics and come at you like a pack of psychotic velociraptors on steroids and oh- PEEK A BOO I SEE YOU!_ ' thing going for them. They kind of made her think they had all been drug addicts before becoming infected. It had taken Ellie a long time to learn how to distinguish between Runners and Stalkers. Joel had been a natural, he could pick it up just by a certain blood chilling screech they emitted and their erratic behaviour.

It was times like these she was thankful that she was trained by one of the best.

Joel hadn't moved from her side. When he had been alive he had _always_ been the one to take charge, leading the way to or through their foe. Now he followed her, shouting words of encouragement or advice which at times could be incredibly distracting because it's not like someone who _isn't real_ can do hell of a lot. Ellie's eyebrows knitted together in concentration as she tried to calculate how many there were. She had established from the different unique groans and the distance between that there were only two, an oddity considering their hunting style. Today was her lucky day. She shifted her weight and leant around the front of the Ford, waiting for the right time to stealth attack the closest infected when rapid gunshots cracked through the air. Ellie froze as Joel growled from beside her. "Shit, that sounded close," he hadn't heard them approaching either, another rarity considering he had the senses of a bat.

Which meant the Infected were now the least of her concerns.

' _Fuck!'_

"Kid we gotta move. Now!"

"No shit Joel!" The Stalkers agonised screams covered her snarky reply. Ellie heard the grunt of several men jumping down off the roof of a RV not too far ahead. Joel peered around the tailgate of the vehicle they crouched behind, lifting his hands up to signal to Ellie there of eight of them. She cursed under her breath.

Dehydration was beginning to take its toll, fighting eight unprepared like this was a guaranteed suicide mission. As the group despatched the Stalkers with dull thuds of melee weapons she crept silently away, using the cars as cover.

"Jesus Christ these fuckers stink- Jess they actually remind me of you."

"Get fucked Nate, at least I don't smell like your girl- did she live in a fish market before you picked her up huh!?"

Ellie's heart hammered viciously in her chest as she fled, trying to put as much distance between herself and the Hunters as they laughed and shot crude jokes at each other. The highway was surrounded by a dense forest but she was a good 200 meter sprint away with zero cover, there was no way she could make it without being spotted. Her only chance was to find a spot and hide until they left. She spied a Prius that was wedged into the side of the trailer of a Kenworth truck, providing a small enclosed space that she could squeeze into. She darted through the open space between her shelter and the car, keeping her head as low as possible. She was about to wedge herself into the space when her nose started to itch.

' _Fuck not now Ellie- cut it out you stupid piece of shit nostrils! Don't be douchebags to me now!'_

Her hands flew to her face as she tried to suppress the urge to sneeze but it was to no avail. Her eyes began to water as she let out four consecutive sneezes, cringing at how they echoed.

' _Please tell me they didn't hear me, pleaseeeeeeeeee!'_

"What the heck was that? Infected don't sneeze! Move out and check the area, there could be Fireflies."

' _Aw crap aw crap aw crap. Aaaaaaand I'm doomed. What a shitty way to die. Death by sneezing. Fuck. I have to get out of here!'_

The laughter of the men came to an abrupt stop. Ellie's palms begun to sweat as she strained her hearing but couldn't detect the men. The combination of her sinuses acting up and the lack of water were impacting on her senses. Whoever they were they certainly weren't amateurs. Her heartrate accelerated and her adrenal glands went into overdrive. She twisted her head from side to side as she became flustered frantically trying to piece together a plan of attack. Joel materialised at her side, startling her. "You gotta get out of here kiddo!" He said, shaking her shoulders urgently and snapping her out of her moment of panic. "I know these type of hunters, if they get their hand on you you'll be wishin' you were dead!"

She had no smart arse retort for him. Ellie shivered, his words making her think of infernos and blizzards. She pinched her arm, the sharp pain cutting through her scattered thoughts as she scrambled around the side of the Prius, making a beeline for a thick bush that offered her only a small amount of cover. She knew they were getting closer. She had to move. Fast.

"Well lookie at what we have 'ere!" A hand shot out of nowhere and grabbed Ellie by the scruff of her shirt. She cried out in anger and twisted furiously in the Hunters grasp, shouting obscenities as he laughed in her face with a toothless grin. He was old, his limp black shoulder length hair almost completely streaked with grey. His dark tanned face was marred with pockmarks and scars. Ellie thought darkly to herself that she was going to add more to his collection as soon as she was free.

"Let go of me you creep!" Ellie brought her foot crashing down on his and aimed a swift elbow into his chest, feeling his ribs protesting from the impact. He wheezed and let go of her in surprise, bending over and clutching his stomach. "I'll get you for that you whore!" He grounded out winded, struggling to stand back up. "Yeah yeah," Ellie replied dryly as she grabbed a fistful of his hair and smashed his face onto her kneecap. The connection made a satisfying cracking noise. He went down with a thud and didn't move. She hadn't killed him, but it wouldn't be long before he was conscious again.

Her one advantage was that they _always_ underestimated her.

"Ellie you gotta MOVE!"

Joel was pointing at the group of armed men that were now charging towards her, alerted by the commotion. One lifted up his pistol and aimed a shot at her, causing sparks to fly across her cheek as a bullet impacted with the car behind her. Seeing no other option she begun to sprint as fast as she could through the gaps between the vehicles, narrowly missing the bullets that followed her. She spun around and took a few shots of her own. A cry of pain confirmed that she had hit one but she didn't stop to look as a bullet narrowly grazed past her forearm, causing a thin trail of blood to begin to streak over her inked skin.

"Don't you fucking mess with my tattoo you fuckers!" She shouted angrily as her feet thundered on the road. Her chest heaved with exertion as she dropped behind a trailer and blindly fired more shots, quickly emptying her clip. They were almost on top of her. Two were down but that still left her with six pissed off foes who were not exactly cheery after what she had done to their friends. Ellie had been in worse situations before but rarely was she caught out in the open like this. She mentally criticised herself for being so reckless as she reloaded her firearm. 6 precious bullets remained.

"Come out Princess, we won't hurt you we _swear,_ " the Hunters voice was dripping with sarcasm as he ducked behind a car and out of sight. Ellie rolled her eyes as she fired off a well-aimed shot, clipping one of the men moving between vehicles in the chest. He fell down in a heap. He wasn't going to be a problem anymore.

"She's 'ere you bunch of pussys," the voice was close, _too_ close. Ellie spun around as the Hunter leapt over the vehicle. Ellie lunged at him with her switchblade, attempting to bury it into his neck. Although she had been brought up fighting and was battle hardened by her life on the road, she could never make up for her size and lack of physical strength. "You bitch!" The hunter swore as he flung her smaller frame to the ground. Ellie had time to spit at the man in defiance before he brought the butt of his semi-automatic rifle down on her head with a crack.

"No no no no baby girl! ELLIE!"

And then everything went black.

* * *

Flies crawled over the dried blood that covered the knife wound in the throat. The man couched next to the broken body as he quickly analysed the cause of death, estimating the woman to be at least a week gone. The mid-summer heat had caused the body to bloat, her features grotesque from swelling. She wore the garb of a female hunter, which meant more could still be in the area.

Which meant _she_ could be there.

The man stood up, knees creaking with protest from being in the same position for too long. He walked over to the dust coated blinds and pushed a gap with his index finger, peering out the grimy window at the sign outside. He was barely able to make out the faded words-

 _"Welcome to the State of Missouri!"_


	3. Chapter 2

_"Each forward step we take we leave some phantom of ourselves behind" - John Lancaster Spalding_

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

Tiny pinpricks of light invaded the darkness. Everything felt distant, out of reach. Time stood still, the only sound was the consistent thunderous thud of her heartbeat which echoed in the blackness. She felt like she was being choked by the nothingness that threathened to consume her until she was left as an empty shell.

 _'...Am I dead? Is this the afterlife? Mum? Riley? Joel!? Why am I all alone!? Oh fuck...'_

A faint shuffling noise brought her back to the brink of consciousness. Ellie's eyelids fluttered opened and squinted painfully as sunlight assaulted her dilated pupils. The first thing she noticed was how much her body ached, the pain deep in her weary bones. Her head throbbed as the room swam into focus as her eyesight adjusted.

She was in a prison cell.

The feeling of claustrophobia rammed into her chest at full force. Ellie instantly felt like the crumbling stone walls were pressing down on her. The humidity made the small room felt like a clay oven. Her only source of light was from a small barred rectangle window that was high out of her reach. The door was made from bars which didn't look like they would break away from it's iron frame anytime soon.

Ellie went to get up to see if there was any means of escape when the movement sent sharp pains down her side, indicating an injury she had sustained and hadn't been aware of during her fight with the Hunters. Grunting, Ellie tentatively eased herself into a sitting position, leaning against the wall behind her for support, her body weak. It was then that she noticed the pile of rags in the corner stir and a child's face appeared in the gloom, causing Ellie to jerk her head back in disbelief.

The girl looked to be no older than eight, her tiny fame severely malnourished. Ellie couldn't tell what colour hair the girl had because she was so caked in thick mud. Her eyes however, where a stark contrast compared to the rest of her dirty appearance. They reminded Ellie of the teal hue hidden in the deep crevasse of snow buried at the peak of the mountains back in Jackson. That's not what got Ellie's attention though. It was the look of pure _hatred_ swirling in their depths, making the hairs on Ellie's arms stand on end.

"Jeez what's your problem?" Ellie muttered, her skin prickling. The child emitted a low animal-like growl from the back of her throat but didn't move. "Great, I'm stuck with a fucking cave child," Ellie's head fell back against the stoned wall as she closed her eyes with a wary sigh. Why was a child her age being held captured by Hunters? It didn't make sense. "C'mon I'm not going to hurt you," Ellie tried again after minutes of heavy silence passed, her voice soft and quiet. ' _That's bullshit, you hurt everyone that comes into your life.'_

"Yo, that redheaded hellcat is awake."

Ellie stiffened as a tall and stocky hunter appeared at the bars to their confinement, leering down at her. She shot him the most hostile look she was capable of, her lips curling into a snarl. "Marcus isn't back yet- I know what you're thinking man but touching her isn't worth it, you'll get your balls chopped off. You know he's claimed her," a voice called out from down the corridor. The man in front of her rolled his eyes and jammed his hands deep into his pockets, shaking his head with disapproval. "Marcus can get fucked one of these days, he always get the fun ones."

' _Claimed her? Fun ones?! Fucking sick fucks! This is what Joel meant that I'd rather wish I was dead...'_

"Nate if you weren't so kinky and killed all the ones you got then you'd probably get more like her- just do your job man and grab that kid."

There was a rattling of keys and a screech as the jail door was opened. Ellie staggered to her feet, wincing in pain as he walked in with a baseball bat he had retrieved from in the corridor. The Hunter scoffed at her feeble attempts to look aggressive as she brought her fists up into a fighting stance. He lazily swung the baseball bat around before pushing her roughly in the shoulder with it, causing her to step backwards into the wall. "Don't even try sweet cheeks, I ain't in the mood to play games with you if I can't have the fun I want," he said, causing her to shudder at the vile meaning behind his words.

"Don't you fucking touch her!" Ellie snapped as the man turned his attention to the girl trembling in the corner. There was a sudden flurry of movement that took both Ellie and the Hunter by surprise as the child lept at him, hissing in furry. "What the fuck-!" Nate swore as she shot a quick small fist at his crouch, causing him to double over. Seeing an opportunity, Ellie ignored the protesting of her injured ribs and rushed over to the Hunter, using both hands to grab fistfulls of his ink black hair and smashed his face into the brick wall. The man roared in pain and blindly swung his bat which connected with Ellies hand. She cried out as felt several of her fingers break from the impact.

"Jesus Christ Nate!" The other Hunter shot into the jail cell and aggressively kicked Ellie onto the ground and in the same motion caught the young girl as she attempted to dart out between the two men. "The fuckin' bitch caught me by surprise!" Nate whined before glowering furiously at Ellie. Blood dripped off the top of his lip, his nose swelling from where Ellie had broken it when she had attacked him. "I'm gonna make you pay for that-" Nate was interrupted when his companions hand shot out to grab the baseball bat as he brought it up over his head. "Do you want Marcus to throw you into the Pit?! C'mon this fuckin' mutt is putting up a real struggle."

"Let her go!" Ellie screamed as they dragged the snarling girl from the room. She stumbled as she tried to use the wall to pull herself up but was unable to use her broken hand, causing her to fall forward and land on her chest. Nate turned and gave Ellie one last long look as he sneered down at her. "I don't care what Marcus wants," he said with thin lips, his voice barely audible. "I'm gonna have you all to _myself_ one day," he narrowed his eyes and licked his lips slow, before letting out a horrible laugh as Ellie paled at his words. He turned on his heels and slammed the door behind him without another word.

Ellie didn't know how many hours passed before they brought the feral girl back into the cell. Ellie doze fitfully, jerking back awake every time she nearly fell asleep. Her hand ached like a motherfucker and she felt guilty as shit that she hadn't been able to save the demon kid. Ellie tried not to think about what they were doing to her- her only reassurance was that they hadn't talked about her belonging to someone like they had about Ellie. It was morning when they finally dragged her back into the cell and threw her in, shutting the door without a word.

The girl landed in a heap and didn't move. Ellie's heart leapt into her throat and she instinctively reached out for the child with her good hand. Sensing the movement, the girl whipped her head towards Ellie and snarled, baring her broken teeth at her. Ellie snapped her hand back as the girl scurried into the opposite corner and crossed her arms around her knees. It was then Ellie noticed that the girl had been cleaned and clothed, her waist length light blonde hair free of the grime that had caked it when she had been taken. She wore a pink dress dotted with daises. If it wasn't for the fact that she sounded like an animal and was trapped with her Ellie would've thought of her as a normal kid.

"Are... Are you OK?" Ellie asked tentatively, breaking the silence after several tense minutes passed. The girl narrowed her eyes at Ellie before jerking her head to the side, looking at the wall. Ellie scanned her body and felt some relief that there was no evidence of visable injuries on the the child. Maybe the sick fucks hadn't actually touched her...

"Do you want some...?" Ellie lifted and gently shook the can of cat meat a Hunter had tossed into their cell earlier. She had felt too fatigued to eat it all even though she knew she needed to be build her strength back up if she had any chance of escaping. The child eyed her warily before uncurling and lurched forward, snatching the can out of Ellie's grasp. She retreated quickly back into her corner and ravenously scooped the jelly meat out with her tiny hand.

"C'mon surely you know how to speak? I'm not one of those fuckheads you know," Ellie tried again but was met with the sound of food being inhaled. "If you don't say anything back I'm going to give you an _extremely_ lame name," Ellie said, but still got no response. She paused as if deep in thought, absentmindedly flicking one of the dirty laces of her converse. "Fine then, Your name is now... Britney Spears! Wait nah, that doesn't feel right... How about Cyndi Lauper? Yeah! Bingo motherfucker. See Cyndi, that's what you get for being a snobby little shit," Ellie quipped, hoping that jesting with the kid would make a difference

The girl lifted her head and stared Ellie directly in the eye. It almost felt like it was a challenge. Then finally, she opened her mouth. "Finn. My name is Finn."

Ellie was shocked at how well spoken Finn was, her words clear and articulate- not what she had been expecting from the child who had been spitting and hissing only hours before. Ellie gulped as she suddenly felt a sense of foreboding. "So uh, what brings you to this slice of paradise Finn?" Ellie inquired as Finn continued to watch her from across the room. Finn gave a small shrug before she resumed licking the remains of the cat food from the can.

"My Papa is the leader of the Fireflies."

* * *

He had almost missed the scrap of fraying fabric that hung caught in a brunch if it hadn't been for the hawk that had caught his attention, perched at the top of the scrub as it took a break from hunting prey. The bird had screeched as he had made he way past a truck and jumped over its hood, causing him to look nonchalantly in its direction. It was then he noticed the denim blue cloth flutter gently in the breeze.  
The hawk reluctantly took to the air as the man approached, it's great wings catching in the hot air current. The bird of prey soared high above as the man untangled the fabric from its snare, his face unreadable but deep down he felt a small sense of victory.

It matched the description of the shirt the girl had been last seen wearing.

* * *

 **AN:** You know you've obsessed over a plot too much when you start dreaming about it... Don't forget, twists ahead! Although knowing my luck you'll probably guess it straight away. I've tweaked the original oneshot so that this would make more sense, I would advise reading the first two chapters again if you've read this before. I know a lot of people have probably rolled their eyes at the whole 'Joel is dead' plot but I swear there is much more to it than that and I really want to explore this angle I've got going on. I think only a small handful of people with figure out what's actually going to happen. Is that a challenge? Maybe.

Chapters are going to be roughly the size they have been so far, I find it easier this way & have issues sticking to fics if they go over 8000 words per chapter. Positive is it means I can post them faster. Hoping to get the next one out in a week or so, it's getting pretty crazy with Christmas coming up. While everyone is out shopping I'm hiding inside obsessing over TLoU MP, it's actually pretty fun! I suggest to everyone to give it a try, especially Interragations.

Until next time,

\- BeautifulDusk


End file.
